King Arthur

King Arthur, or The British Worthy: A Dramatick Opera in Five Acts, with music by Henry Purcell and libretto by John Dryden, was first presented in 1691, and is considered a typical work of the British baroque period. A theater piece, characterized by spectacular action and special effects, it conformed to the tastes of the day, wherein “experience hath taught us that our English genius will not relish perpetual singing.” Although there is no full score extant, Nikolaus Harnoncourt has arranged the music in such a way to complement Dryden's text, which is “adorn'd with scenes, machines, songs and dances” (sound like Broadway?). This performance, recorded live in July 2004 at Salzburg, Austria's Felsenreitshule—which provides a splendid arena for the innovative staging of this multilevel combination of video images, action sequences, and choral singing—finds Harnoncourt and the members of the Concentus Musicus situated in a shallow pit center stage, interacting with the players. Musically, dramatically, and technically, this is a first rate production: Michael Maerten (King Arthur) vying with Roland Renner (Osmond) for the love of Sylvie Rohrer (Emmeline) are all dramatically and athletically suited to the rigors of their roles, and are ably accompanied by Christoph Bantzer as the magician Merlin, and Alexandra Henkel as the mischievous sylph Philidel. With all its virtues, however, this production is not for everyone: if the intent is to honor the British baroque period, this motive is poorly served by the garish, and just plain weird mishmash of postmodern costumes (not to mention brief partial nudity) on display, though there are hilarious modern day touches in the scenery and a very amusing screed aimed at those who would favor theatrical tradition. Presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and PCM stereo, this should be included in all serious musical collections, but would be more of an optional purchase for others. Aud: C, P. (J. Reed)